Although it was probably obvious from the slowing trickle of art I've posted here over the last few years, I thought I'd make a post for wandering souls clarifying that this will no longer be a truly active account. Although I may still stop by every once in a while, I won't be able to keep up with or respond to any private messages or comments in a convenient manner. So if you are interested in contacting or following me, head to LeviHoffmeier.com and find your method of choice!

While I loved the ability to connect with and discover artists here, I was never a big fan of DA's layout and functionality, lack of customization, and heck, even the ugly green colors. And these days there's a lot of great sites out there that present your art in a better, more streamlined manner. All of my old art will still be here, though, so this post isn't really changing anything - it's just an explanation for those of you not getting a response from me after six months!

I'm proud to announce www.MayflowerComic.com, the dedicated home to my new comic. As the most recent post there will show you, the site will continually expand with articles and intel concerning the Mayflower universe – its characters, factions, and eventually locations, tech/gear, and vehicles. MayflowerComic.com will also be the place to order Mayflower issues as they're released, and while you wait, the blog roll will provide side stories, extra designs and sketches, and walkthroughs of the art process. Think wiki database + a stream of content and art.

A few weeks ago I realized if I had a central place devoted to Mayflower, I'd be inspired and motivated to post supplemental content and random art from the universe more often, which in turn would provide me with more energy for the actual interior art of the comic. If I created a site that combined my 70+page sourcebook with the wave of stories I'm smacked with every day, I'd have a published outlet while I work so it didn't feel like I was just drawing into a void. The site wouldn't be possible without my friend, Mike Daly, who integrated the site's blog, allowing me to update from anywhere.

*UPDATE*

Sorry for spamming, everyone! I thought DA was being wonky with this new journal writing format, but as it turns out, I'm just an idiot - so this will be the one, true, journal entry!

Here's the promo I was using to advertise Mayflower at the two cons I went to this month. It's actually an incomplete version of issue one's cover, which is already featuring a whole 'nother character by the time I'm writing this.

I was really happy/proud of this little flyer - it felt like it made this whole project real and legitimate!

First off - going to have a booth at Planet Comicon in Kansas City this weekend, on Saturday and Sunday. It's going to be bigger than ever so be sure to drop by if you're in the area. I mean, WILL WHEATON, how can you resist?

2012 was a terrible year. Besides two deaths in the family, and dealing with extended-family drug problems, I had a lot of promising career outlooks fall through. Every month things got crappier, to the point where it affected my outlook on my art-making ability. And this meant a lot of staring at paper or the screen, trying to start something and then deleting it, etc. Eventually it meant I wasn't even doing that, and just staying away from the pen and pencil altogether.

But I've now gotten another 'day' job and finally moved out of the parent's house after college. While this means I have less time to do art, it also means I now have a little room dedicated to art-making (I'm looking forward to hanging up some whiteboards and corkboards on the wall soon to cultivate more creativity). It's helped things.

I've been able to do art a bit more consistently now - especially the main project that was intimidating me for so long: Mayflower. I want it to be exactly what I've been envisioning, but it never felt like I could get there last year. In the last month, I feel like I'm getting a little closer, at least. Enough time has passed since the the worst of last year that my brain now throws a few encouraging thoughts at me from time to time.

Mayflower: The Seeker did not win that contest that I posted about last time in my journal. We got REALLY close. In fact, we actually DID get in the top 5 who would win grant money. But then oddly enough, a few of our votes were disqualified after the contest ended and we fell from 4th to 6th place, leaving space for a team who paid for their votes, and a team who magically got votes after the contest ended, and even more oddly, had team members who were involved in the running of the contest itself. As one might imagine, me and my friend, Mike, who's doing all the programing, were not happy campers.

The positive note though? Since we didn't pay for out votes - we saw that we had managed to scrounge together a huge heap of earnest, kickass support from people, like the person reading this right now. That's really encouraging! So The Seeker is still quietly being toiled on at the moment, despite our loss and lack of resources. Expect more on that front in the future!

Until then you'll have to deal with Mayflower, the comic! I've been planning this universe for 3 and a half years now, and now the first story within it is finally becoming a reality. I'll be posting preview pages in the coming weeks, and I hope to have a printed and digital copy for sale in April, where I'll begin setting up shop at a few nearby comic conventions. I hope I'll have your support in this new venture, or better yet, I hope Mayflower will earn your support.

More to come!

P.S. Thanks for the poll responses - I'll be doing more of those soon and using the results to inform my ideas on Mayflower funding and distribution.

You may recall the last journal entry I posted. I've been trying to get votes to win a grant for a game I'm writing and illustrating called Mayflower: The Seeker.

We're now at the last day of voting for this competition and we're right in the heat of the battle. As I write this, we're in 5th place (the top 5 win a grant) by only one vote. It's been up and down like crazy for the last week, and its become apparent that much of our competition is buying votes left and right. Downright crummy!

But we'd rather lose than resort to those means though, so we're going to have to fight till the very end. So if you haven't voted yet, please do so!

Hello folks! I've been busy working on a game called "The Seeker" with a friend. This game takes place in a fictional universe I've created and have been slowly building for the last few years called "Mayflower" or "The Mayflower Project". You've actually seen a bunch of Mayflower-related artwork in my gallery since I first started posting art here, you just didn't know it!

Eventually (very-eventually, like very-soon) I'll begin work on a full-length painted graphic novel that tells an epic story in this 'verse. But before that, we're making a prologue and introduction of sorts with this game, The Seeker. But the game needs your help.

We're in the running for receiving grant money from the state of Utah to help us acquire software licenses and upgrades to our tools - y'know it's always nice when the artist can actually play the game he's working on! To win this grant, we need votes. Go this page:

And plop in your e-mail address. After that, you should get an email to the address you posted which contains a link. Clicking that link will confirm your vote and keep us in the running for this grant.

I've had it on my website for a while, but I'd thought I'd make it clear across the interweb channels that if you're interested in commissioning me for a sketch (or something more epic if you have the compensation), now's the time to do it!

If you're serious about throwing money at me to provide you with a piece, please email me at:

levihoffmeier@gmail.com

(Note: I'm not interested in doing anything overtly sexual or violent  a little blood and sexiness is one thing, but I have a line I'm not very interested in crossing.)

I'm going to be selling prints and doing commissions at Planet Comic Con in Overland Park, Kansas, this Saturday and Sunday! If you live nearby, you should definitely check it out - it's bigger this year than it ever was.

While working on other projects, I've been slowly collecting sketches, designs, and writings of what I've been imagining Halo 4 to be like. You can read and view my take on the first level, called "The Howling Dark", here: carnage.bungie.org/haloforum/h…

As it's strange format, I can't really post the whole project on DeviantArt, but I will be uploading my favorite images.

Even though the first page had already previously been featured on the site before, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, this is BS Angel's way of slowly but surely hosting the whole comic over at Waypoint.

In addition to the spiffy new looks, we've added a news function, wallpapers, PDF downloads, as well as creating a page for Sean Mortensen's soundtrack. Behind the scenes content has also been added to the blog.

Most importantly though, OneBitRocket has implemented an interactive flip-book format for A Fistful of Arrows (and A Sangheili's War Is Never Over as a bonus). It truly might be the closest thing we'll ever get to having the comic as a real thing you can flip through!

I feel a little weird posting such a self-serving piece of news, but wow, Halo.Bungie.Org has a news post up right now noting that some fans of my Halo artwork have started a petition to try and get me a job doing this stuff for real!

~What's also crazy is that the two other stories I wanted to send in art for, 'Dirt' and the 'Preston J. Cole' story, didn't receive any entries! Darn one-per-artist limit. Perhaps I'll send in an email suggesting where they might find the extra help if they want it!

It seems like everyone has a blog, especially if you have a website. But I wanted mine to actually be useful. I've started taking some of my favorite pieces and disassembling them for visitors, showing them from start to finish. I've always enjoyed it when other artists do this, so I thought it might be cool. I'd like it to be a good resource for folks trying to figure out how to do this thing called art (myself included, I can't remember half the things I did on my older pieces...).